Research and anecdotal evidences indicate that manufacturers undertaking the path towards servitization face several challenges that may generate both internal inconsistencies, e.g. between the servitization strategy and the internal organisational arrangements, and external ones, e.g. with the customer needs and culture or with the service supplier network. This study provides a systematisation of 17 challenges of servitization through a literature review. Five case studies investigate empirically such challenges. A framework is developed, based on the research findings, which points out and discusses alignment areas in servitization. Two alignment directions concern internal aspects: (i) the strategic orientation and the service portfolio and (ii) the strategic orientation and the internal organisation. The other two alignment directions discussed concern: (iii) the internal dimensions with the service network and (iv) the internal dimensions with the customer one.

The evolution of capital goods companies towards a “service-oriented” business model is challenging and requires fundamental changes in the company. Main aims of this study, that is a part of a large research project, are to understand how business models of companies that operate in capital goods sector are configured and to identify different \PSS\ types that can help companies to better understand the shifting toward a service-oriented business model. To achieve these results, we developed a framework, based on the Canvas model and carried out an exploratory survey among 95 European companies to understand the relevant issues that characterize business model configuration in servitization context

Increasing competitive pressures have pushed manufacturers to increase the value of their offerings through the provision of Product-service systems. This shift results in an increased complexity of offerings and a higher degree of risk and responsibility taken by manufacturers concerning product availability, performance and product-enabled processes. The paper investigates the impact and potential benefits of installed base information management practices on the offering of Product-Service Systems. A case study concerning an underwater system in a cruise vessel is presented: the data collected were used to develop a simple decision analysis tree, which allows to estimate the value of installed base information in the studied case.